Quotes from Stephen L. Harris

New Testament readers are frequently disappointed to find that the Christian Scriptures say little about the nature of the soul or its survival in an afterlife. Instead, church authorities base most of their teachings about the soul on Greek philosophy, particularly on the teachings of Socrates and Plato.

Mark's allusion to Jesus' "brothers" and "sisters" (see also Matt. 13: 54–56) may disturb some readers. Because his Gospel does not include a tradition of Jesus' virginal conception or birth, the existence of siblings may not have been an issue with the Markan community (as it apparently was not for the Pauline churches; none of Paul's letters allude to a virgin birth).

Some New Testament writers, such as the author of Hebrews, used Platonic concepts to illustrate parallels and correspondences between the spiritual and physical worlds (Heb. 1: 1–4; 9: 1–14). The book's famous definition of Christian faith is primarily a confession of Platonic belief in the reality of the invisible realm (Heb. 11: 1–2).

A Christian variation of the Greek hero myth infers that Jesus, like the celebrated figures of Dionysus, Orpheus, Heracles (Hercules), and Aeneas, descended (presumably after the Crucifixion) into these "dark pits," where he "made his proclamation to the imprisoned spirits" (1 Pet. 3: 19; cf. 1 Pet. 4: 6). After having experienced both earthly life and a postmortem descent to the Underworld, Jesus then ascends to the uppermost realm of the three-tier cosmos.

Only a few deities associated with the Olympian cult apparently offered a satisfying personal relationship with their worshipers. Two of the most accessible figures were Asclepius and Dionysus, both of whom were born mortal and underwent suffering and death before achieving immortality, experiences that allowed them to bridge the gulf between humanity and divinity.

During the first century after Jesus' death, his followers interpreted his cosmic role—his posthumous descent into the Underworld, his ascent to heaven, and his invisible reign as universal king—in terms that echoed some ancient traditions about Greco-Roman gods and heroes.

Luke sometimes rearranges the sequence of individual incidents to emphasize his particular themes. Whereas Mark placed Jesus' rejection at Nazareth midway through the Galilean campaign, Luke sets it at the beginning (4: 16–30). Adding that the Nazarenes attempted to kill Jesus to Mark's account, he uses the incident to foreshadow his subject's later death in Jerusalem (see Box 9.1).

In the thought world Mark creates, the apocalyptic Son of Man who is about to appear in glory (13: 24–31) is the same as the Son of Man who came forty years earlier to die on the cross (8: 31, 38; 9: 9–13, 31).

Lieutenant Paul T. Funkhouser from Evansville, Indiana, a twenty-three-year-old lawyer yet to practice his trade, led the way aboard his motorcycle. He kept riding back and forth to let the drivers know where to go, and then dashing off to the head of the column.

Jesus—nailed to the cross—appears powerless and defeated (15: 29–30). As Mark so darkly paints it, the scene is a tragic paradox: Despite the seeming triumph of religious and political forces allied against him, Jesus is neither guilty nor a failure. The failure lies in humanity's collective inability to recognize the sufferer's inestimable value, to see in him God's hand at work.

The word itself, not found in the Bible, commemorates Hel, the fierce Norse goddess who reigned over the netherworld.

As we study the Evangelists' accounts of Jesus' life and death, we discover that their main goal is to persuade readers of Jesus' supreme importance to all humankind and to win their allegiance to a king infinitely superior to any earthly ruler.

This phenomenon of religious ecstasy, in which 274 believers emit an outpouring of strange sounds (called glossolalia), came to characterize the early church and was generally regarded as a sign of God's presence (11: 14–18; cf.

The first convert is Simon Magus, a notorious magician who later tries to buy Peter's gift of imparting the Holy Spirit, an attempt the apostle severely rebukes (8: 4–24). In legends that developed after New Testament times, Simon became a sinister figure involved in black magic and the occult. According to some historians, he is the prototype of Faust, the medieval scholar who—to gain forbidden knowledge—sells his soul to the devil.

the Gospel writers compiled not necessarily what Jesus exactly said or did, but what the believing community collectively understood to be the tenor of his actions and sayings.

Throughout this section of Acts, Luke repeatedly refers to Jesus as a "servant" (3: 13, 26; 4: 27, 30), the only New Testament writer to do so (cf. Luke 22: 26–27).

Mark's report that Jesus' "mother and his brothers" attempted to interfere with Jesus' ministry (3: 21, 31–35) is consistent with the New Testament tradition that none of Jesus' family members followed him until after his resurrection.

Three major forces largely shaped the world in which Christianity was born and developed: the Scriptures and traditions of Judaism, the culture of Greece, and the political power of Rome.